Orange County DA's basement office to move

Saturday

Sep 10, 2011 at 2:00 AM

GOSHEN — With the Orange County Government Center closed, the district attorney's office is relocating to satellite sites in Middletown and the City of Newburgh, and, on Tuesday, grand jury operations will move to the county's E-911 Center on Wells Farm Road until further notice.

BY HEATHER YAKIN

GOSHEN — With the Orange County Government Center closed, the district attorney's office is relocating to satellite sites in Middletown and the City of Newburgh, and, on Tuesday, grand jury operations will move to the county's E-911 Center on Wells Farm Road until further notice.

"We have mold," District Attorney Frank Phillips confirmed Friday, adding, with typical caginess, "in some locations, there's more than others."

There is some mold in vents, in the carpets, in books in the office's law library. One of the lawyers in the office found mold in a file.

Office employees spent Friday vacating the place; Phillips said they were notified at 2 p.m. Thursday the building would be shut down at 3 p.m.

The DA's office, in the basement of the Government Center complex, was hit hard by flooding from Hurricane Irene and again by the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee.

The newer county courthouse still is open, and the County Court and Family Court are operating as usual. The six courtrooms in the Government Center side of the building are closed, but the Supreme Court judges are hearing cases in the new building.

Phillips said he met Friday with the judges to explain the issues and logistics, and to see if they could offer rooms for witness preparation for trial.

"They've been accommodating," he said. "Everybody wants to work together to make it flow smoothly."